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Character foil – a character whose personality or attitude is in sharp
contrast to those of another character in the same play or novel. By
using a foil, Shakespeare highlights the other character’s traits or
attitude in contrast. For example, Tybalt is angry and hot-blooded.
His foil is Benvolio who is thoughtful and peaceful.
Tybalt- Juliet’s cousin
Benvolio-Romeo’s cousin
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ExampleMercutio: “Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word/One nickname
for her purblind son and heir/Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so
trim/When King Cophetua loved the beggar maid” (II, I, 13-16).
Do you see the words in bold? They are allusions.
Venus
Cophetua and maid
Cupid
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A speech given by ONE character
ALONE on stage.
Speech given by ONE character
often to a crowd. Not dialogue.
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But soft, what light through yonder window
breaks?
When spoken it looks like this:
"But SOFT what LIGHT through YONder
WINdow BREAKS?"
Separated into feet it looks like:
"But SOFT | what LIGHT| through YON|der
WIN| dow BREAKS|?
Count the syllables. Are there ten? Are there
five pairs of unstressed/stressed?"
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“Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me
a grave man” (III, i, 103-104). What does he
mean?
Grave = serious
grave = tomb